“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Ps. 11:3)
We live in the perilous times of the last days prophesied by the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3:1-7. As I write, America is on the brink of disintegration, decimated by evil forces from within and without. Once a beacon of freedom and light, America is becoming a flickering flame engulfed in spiritual darkness.
I am convinced that we are fast approaching a foreboding juncture, a point of no return as a country: freedom or enslavement. During demoralizing times like this, which will inevitably result in intensifying persecution of God’s people, it’s all too easy to “despair of life” and be “overwhelmed,” yielding to paralyzing fear and disarming anxiety.
A way to escape
“But thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift: During life’s most challenging trials and afflictions, God has made “a way to escape.”
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer [allow] you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1 Cor. 10:13) [emphasis mine].
“There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God, A place where sin cannot molest, Near to the heart of God.” The hymn “Near to The Heart of God.”
A hiding place consecrated, inaccessible to an enemy, a sanctuary of peace amid the storms of life.
Jesus’ Example
“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” (Mark 1:35).
In this beautifully instructive verse, the Lord of Glory provides a perfect example of time spent in seclusion with God.
Notice “rising up a great while before day…” Jesus arose before dawn before the world came rushing in with all its cares and responsibilities. He “went out, and departed …” He withdrew from His disciples to a “solitary place,” a silent setting void of distraction to be alone with His Father—a time of heavenly strengthening and revitalization.
If the sinless Son of God found this time alone with His Father essential, how much more should we who are vexed and tried by “this present evil world”: the day-by-day onslaught of the sinful influence of an increasingly decadent society and our fallen flesh?
The “secret place of the most high.”
“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.” (Ps. 91:1-2)
“dwelleth” abide, reside.
A Man Shall Be a Hiding Place
“And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” (Isa. 32:2)
The man Christ Jesus
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” (John 15:1-4) “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” (John 14:23)
In the final hours of the Church Age, as the times grow darker, our spiritual survival (strength) will depend upon our nearness to “the light of the world.” Now more than ever, our personal relationship with God and His Word is imperative to endurance and spiritual well-being. “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” (James 4:8). Distance decreases receptivity.
“Perfect quietness of heart…is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.” Andrew Murray
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 15:58)
A. W. Weckeman
Photo: Wikimedia
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